X-rays raise breast cancer risk in women with BRCA
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X-rays may double or triple the risk of breast cancer in women who carry a mutation in the BRCA1 or BCRA2 gene, which makes them more susceptible to the breast as well as ovarian cancer, researchers reported on Monday.
The findings are not clear-cut and it is not known which type of chest X-ray poses the greater risk, said Dr. David Goldgar of the University of Utah School of Medicine, who helped lead the research.
“The results from this study raise potentially significant clinical considerations,” the researchers wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. “The absolute risk of breast cancer by age 50 years is in the order of 40 percent in BRCA1 carriers and 15 percent in BRCA2 carriers.”
The team focused on 1,600 women, who were asked if they ever had a chest X-ray, if it was before age 20, and how many X-rays they had.
Women with mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 who reported having a chest X-ray were 54 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who had never had one, the study found.
Women exposed to X-rays before age 20 had a 2.5-fold increased risk of developing breast cancer before age 40, compared with those who had never had a chest X-ray.
“Since BRCA proteins are integral in repairing damage to breast cells, we hypothesized that women with BRCA 1/2 mutations would be less able to repair damage caused to DNA by ionizing radiation,” Goldgar said.
The major reason most of the women the in the study would have had a chest X-ray was to screen for tuberculosis before enrolling in school or as job requirement, Goldgar said in a telephone interview.
However, “if my daughter was 30 and known to be a (BRCA1 or BRCA2) carrier I wouldn’t say ‘don’t have a mammography,’” he added.
Now the team is trying to get more details from the women on the type of X-rays they have had and when.
“It seems from our study and from other studies that younger age exposure is important,” Goldgar said.
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